Angelo Kerman

Last pic of the night: big orange, WIP:

I've been working on remodeling my old 3.75m tanks from DSEV, and I got the gray variant and white variant done. Here you can see the gray variant, which matches my D2 crew parts: Here is the white variant, with the stock 3.75m tanks on the left for reference: Finally, WIP of the big orange texture variant, with the original models on the left: Finally got the rough texture where I like it.

Got the white texture variant done: Now to start working on the orange variant...

Just starting to modify the textures for the Duna White variant... No promises, but I'd like to have the 3.75m "Duna" line remodeled by the time KSP 1.3.1 is ready.

Have you actually tried running a mission, or is this just an intellectual exercise? I'm at the point where I would like to see quantifiable data before listening to people complain that missions are too hard.

Complete Duna Gray lineup: Needs some grunge, and to consolidate some Photoshop layers, then I'll be ready to modify the textures to match the stock 3.75m tanks coloration.

Now I'm gonna have to schedule a DSEV update that has interstellar spacecraft components... Looks great!

Correct.

Experience counts, as does the Random Number Gods. Also, partial thrust losses are so obsolete now with 1.2.7...

No. Only skill does. Note that this refers to the condition summary, not the likeliness that a part will fail. That's still done via part Quality and vessel Reliability.

Known issue: In the flight dialog, Condition also shows your quality rating. It can be misleading as condition is tied to MTBF instead of quality, so you could see "Maintenance Required" right along with, say 45/45 quality. I have to devise a better way to show the quality rating separate from part condition.

Engine MTBF examines its total burn time, not total activated time. BARIS 1.2.7 (KSP 1.3 only, 1.2.2 support was dropped a few releases ago) is now available: Event Cards - Vehicle integration completed event result won't be available when KCT is installed. MTBF - Part condition is now based on MTBF instead of part quality. - New Condition summary: Maintenance Required - When MTBF runs out, this summary will indicate that the part needs periodic maintenance in order to maintain its quality. - As parts gain flight experience, they'll gain MTBF in addition to their flight experience bonus. - MTBF capped at 5,112 hours (2 kerbal-years). - ModuleQualityControl now allows part-based MTBF caps just like it does with quality rating caps. These caps override the global settings. - Fixed issue where MTBF improvements gained through part upgrades wasn't being applied. - Fixed issue where MTBF improvements gained through facility upgrades wasn't being applied. Configuration - Added new Constants.cfg file; many of BARIS's constant values can be configured with this file, including the MTBF cap... Other Fixes - Fixed issue where the odds of a part exploding during launch and/or post-launch weren't honoring a 0% chance.

New look for the FLM-7200 a.k.a. Duna-72: One more tank to go, then I can do the white and orange textures!

Thanks! Flying around Kerbin and exploring all the anomalies and such is something I had been planning for months- and had to create a whole mod to do. I've been flying each leg at 1x timewarp too- it's probably the slowest trip around Kerbin Circumnavigation Aviation Challenge... Anyway, I'm about halfway around the world at long last, and of course there are some really interesting anomalies coming up, some I haven't seen since they came from Kerbal Konstructs..

KSC proved to be just as confused about the space probe as the Akron’s crew were, so they did some checking with their VKR contacts. The Von Kerman Republic insisted that they didn’t have a space program, much less create the probe. Either they didn’t know anything or they were covering something up. It was yet another unanswered question asked on the airship’s journey around the world. But something else was bugging the captain… “Raphia, are the gondolas still certified watertight,” Captain James asked. “Uh, Captain?” “You heard me.” “Uh, um, they were checked and re-certified on our last layover, why?” “Good,” the airship’s commanding officer responded. “Rig for water landing. Time for the old girl to go for a swim.” “… Aye aye, Sir,” Raphia answered. Liscella gave the skipper a questioning look. “I hope you’re referring to the airship and not her chief engineer,” she quipped. “Of course. The high radioactivity at the last site is bugging me. I want to make sure we didn’t pick up any atomic dust. The salt water will scrub clean anything we picked up. Besides, we’re still waiting for permission to enter VKR airspace.” The Akron flew lower and lower until she was just a few meters above the water. The captain then gingerly dipped the gondolas into the ocean, then eased the airship into the waves. By the time the airship settled into the equatorial waters, her gondolas were completely submerged. She dragged her hull for several hundred meters and create a wake before slowing to a stop. With not much else to do while they waited for airspace clearance, Raphia took the cargo elevator down to the ocean and installed a submersible oceanography and bathymetry sensor to the engineering gondola. The instrument functioned perfectly but the results weren’t helpful. “Too bad we didn’t learn anything new,” Raphia said, “but at least the science team at KSC will be happy we finally tested out their aquatic instrument. We should put in a request for a submarine next time.” Raphia took the opportunity to go for a swim before heading back inside. The rest of the crew got jealous and they spent the day diving off the flight deck and swimming around. It was a good morale boost. *** By noon the next day, the Akron finally had clearance to enter vonKerman airspace, and the airship immediately headed to their next stop: the Arakebo Observatory, located at the center of The Great Crater. It was a rare opportunity; few from the Kerman States had ever set eyes upon the observatory. Built by the vonKerman Republic a decade after the Last War as a way to shift their focus back to science, the Arakebo Observatory was the world’s largest single-aperture radio telescope. Used for radio astronomy, radar astronomy, and atmospheric research, it discovered several asteroids orbiting near Kerbin’s orbit, possibly the result of a planetary body that got too close. It even sent an interstellar message, known as the Arakebo Message, to the Valentine system four years go. The kilometer-diameter telescope used a spherical aperture dish. Instead of moving the entire dish like the Anomalous Tracking Stations did, the transceiver moved around the bowl by means of a cable system. It worked quite well- at least until the cable system broke down. It was currently undergoing maintenance. The vonKerman scientists weren’t too friendly to the Akron’s crew- not for political reasons, but because their arrival interrupted their work- so the facility’s director gave them permission to look around themselves. Captain James took Payin, Mosa, and Bobus in the Fido rover to investigate the telescope. “This is made out of konkrete too,” Bobus noted, “but look here. You can see some of the effects of weathering, and there’s some moss growing over there. And if you look up, you can see some cracks that have formed, likely due to the foundation settling into the bedrock.” “And none of the ATS’ had any deterioration,” Captain James said. “Exactly. Arakebo is clearly kerbal-made, and it gives further evidence that the ATS’ are far more advanced than what we can do even today. We can match the size of the dishes, but we have to make them immobile, and we can’t match the ATS construction materials. Even the Arakebo is conventionally powered, I saw the generator housings on our way in.” “Can we check out the observation deck?” “Sure, Mosa,” Captain James replied, “let’s take a look.” With their field trip to the observatory completed, the Akron began their cruise to Green Coast International so that the crew could officially go through customs. Along the way, the crew spotted their next anomaly; it appeared to be a lighthouse! Captain James immediately ordered the airship to ground so that the crew could check it out. “Captain, the vonKermans are wondering why we’re deviating from our flightpath,” Liscella said. “Tell them we’re making an unannounced TDT audit.” “They aren’t going to like that,” she pointed out. “Too bad.” He hit the ship’s intercom button. “Crew, this is the captain. Stand by to land and get ready to conduct a surprise audit.” “Swell,” Kelbin said in frustration, “we’re astronauts, not atomic inspectors.” The captain wasted no time upon landing, gathering Liscella and Raphia to perform the audit and leaving Kebin in charge of the Akron. The lighthouse staff protested the surprise inspection but the captain didn’t care. His team found the atomic device, a reactor designed to power the lighthouse, without much trouble. A couple of hours of arguing and inspections to verify that the reactor couldn’t be used to produce weapons-grade material, the airship was once again headed to Green Coast International. *** Per the Total Disarmament Treaty, the non-commissioned Navy vessel and former warship had to be inspected for the presence of any weapons before being given overflight permissions of the Von Kerman Republic homeland. Captain James anticipated a lot of paperwork and he was right. The vonKermans took every opportunity they could to ensure every scrap of paperwork was in order and went over every centimeter of the craft to verify that there were no weapons aboard- and took their time doing it. When it became clear that the inspectors were stalling, Captain James insisted that they grant overflight permissions for the Akron’s inspection team, pointing out an anomaly on a carefully modified map and citing Article 7 of the Total Disarmament Treaty. After quite a bit of arguing, they quickly inspected the Ganges- refitted for extended flight- and granted it overflight permissions- with strict instructions not to deviate from its course. “Captain, I never get to go on away missions, can I take out the Ganges this time” Kimgee asked. Captain James thought it through and nodded. “I don’t see why not. Grab Raphia and Mosa as well, find out what we’ve got, and return.” “Aye aye, Sir!” Kimgee enthusiastically gathered her shipmates, powered up the runabout, and lifted off the deck. A half-hour of flying later, they found their target- another Anomalous Tracking Station- and landed to conduct investigations. Sure enough, the atomic signature was nothing more than the tracking station’s power plant. When the Ganges tried to lift of though… “Um, we’re too heavy to lift off the mountain,” Raphia pointed out, “I don’t think the- HOLY MULCH!” “We’re slipping down the mountain,” Mosa yelled. Kimgee stomped on the brakes, hard, and the tiltrotor slowed but didn’t stop. “Raph, Dump the fuel, dump the fuel!” Raphia hit the emergency fuel dump in a last-ditch effort to stop their slide. Liquid fuel flowed out of the runabout and down the mountain. It worked, barely. “Raph,” Kimgee said. “Already on it,” Raphia responded, grabbing some power tools, connectors, and an emergency pylon kit. The engineer carefully exited the cockpit, quickly ran behind the tiltrotor, and slammed the emergency pylon kit into the ground. Next she bolted a connector to the pylon, and ran for the runabout, where she attached the other connector and linked the two together. For good measure, she grabbed a third connector and the winch, attaching both to the pylon. “Best I can do, skipper,” Raphia said, “let’s hope it holds.” “We’re not waiting to find out. Crew, we’re abandoning ship. If the Ganges goes down, we’re not going with her! Get your hazmat suits on, grab all the survival gear you can, and head for the base of that dish. We’ll stay as far away from the center as we can. Raph, grab the Buckboards, we’ll use them for shelter. That should buy us some more exposure time. I’ll radio the Captain…” *** Captain James had a few choice words about the inadequate lift capacity of the runabouts. “I’ve had it with them,” was the nicest thing he could say. Given the situation, the captain invoked emergency procedures- he bribed the vonKerman officials with 30 grand to speed up their inspections. Even then, they had to wait until dawn for all their paperwork to be in order. But at last, the KSNS Akron cleared customs and was aloft once more. When the huge airship arrived on scene, she set down next to the tracking dish- hovering more than landing solidly. The Ganges crew quickly left their emergency shelters and made their way to the airship’s decontamination chamber. Raphia then exited once more, and rigged the Ganges as an underslung payload. Unlike Jeb’s mishandling of the Ostrich, Captain James carefully lifted off once more with its underslung payload in tow, and slowly lowered the airship and cargo to the grasslands. Before long, Kimgee undid the winch cable, refueled the Ganges enough for a short flight, and flew the runabout onto Akron’s flight deck. By late afternoon, the Ganges was back in the hangar, and the airship headed for its next stop. ********* The journey thus far:

Bugs Very frequent (more than half the time) failures near end of ascent: Depends upon the staging timer. If you perform another staging event before the timer expires, the timer will be applied to the current stage. In my test craft, launch failures happen soon after launch and near achieving orbit. Engine reports "shutdown to prevent catastrophic failure" and then explodes anyway: If an engine can't be shut down then it will explode. Probably something to do with the message displayed. "Intestinal Fortitude" card comes up even though nothing actually happened (intended?): One of your kerbals became a badass, unless all of them already are. "Speed Challenge" card comes up even though the only vehicle under construction was completed weeks ago: Will get disabled when KCT is installed. "One or more vessels has a problem" dialogue frequently reports a problem on currently active vessel even though there are no (new) malfunctions VAB not damaged by "High Bay Collapse" card (intended?): VAB building does not get damaged; card says that one of your vehicle integration projects is lost if you have any in progress. VAB workforce occasionally reduced by half (related to "High Bay Collapse?"): Well, vehicle integration isn't done by robots... Antennas and fuel tanks don't seem to be gaining quality/flight experience: Turn on debugging and please provide logs. Answers Does staging-independent launch failure check happen at a set time, or a random time within a set window? Staging independent launch failure check happens independently of staging events anywhere between 2 and 6 minutes after launch. How is likelihood of launch failure determined? Is it related to vessel reliability? Staging/launch events are based on vessel Reliability. Interacting with a part through the PAW bases its quality checks on the part's Quality rating. Part Explosions I don't agree that only engines and fuel tanks should explode- RCS fuel valves might cause an improper mix, or pogo oscillations might shake the thruster apart. Flywheels might crack or bearings seize up and cause the assembly to fly apart. Fuel tanks might be over pressurized and burst. Drill shafts might get over stressed and shatter. Batteries might overheat and explode. Capacitors might get overcharged and explode. That's why the part exploding feature is an option- and you can independently decide if they explode during launch or explode during post-launch activities. Those sliders go all the way down to zero (though there's a bug at the moment). MTBF MTBF assumes that it's unlikely for a part to fail within the allotted MTBF hours, not impossible. With a 10,000-hour MTBF rating, that's nearly 4 kerbal years- you might as well disable part failures on that type of part- but hey, it's your game. That's why I made BARIS highly configurable Remember, you can also affect how often checks are made, between 1 and 6 times per day as well. I do like the idea of adding MTBF to parts with more flight experience, but will likely cap MTBF at 2,556 hours (1 kerbal year). With the addition of a Constants.cfg file, which will let you set certain constants used by BARIS, you can change that cap to your liking. For unkermanned spacecraft, you could always disable the skill check requirement and the EVA requirement in order to effect repairs. Or, if you feel that a particular type of part, such as a fuel tank, is too mission critical to fail, then disable part failures for that part type. I am toying with the idea of a Robonaut type of part that would let you create small probes to take the place of astronauts when fixing things, but that will definitely be advanced technology.

I can say that it was part of the proposal. Will try to find the source for that. http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=35520.0 sone blueprints from a 1968 study apparently show the crew standing up. https://falsesteps.wordpress.com/2016/09/17/the-mars-excursion-module-one-more-small-step-integrated-program-plan-part-iv/

You think those Vectors are something else, wait until you get a load of this: https://clips.twitch.tv/SwissUgliestEggnogBIRB

You have several options available. For existing saves, BARIS ignores any vessel that you haven't visited after installing the mod. When you do load a vessel, you'll receive some default values for part quality and vessel reliability. You can also enable the debug option and set your vessels to the maximum quality cap (which defaults to 80, but can be adjusted all the way to 100)- I did that for my K.E.E.P. save so that the Akron would be unlikely to break. I didn't have that option at first and let me tell you, the Akron was in sorry shape! You also have the option to decide exactly what parts will break, such as fuel tanks, engines, and the like. So you can do all of the above, and decide how much you want to break to start. You can also disable launch failures and just contend with parts wearing out. You can also disable the need for the repair resources. So, definitely lots of options to match your play style. My suggestion would be to make a copy of your save and try BARIS there first to get a feel for it, then enable/disable features that suit your needs.

As people check in about realism and such, remember that KSP has ion engines that deliver 4kn of thrust. I'm not above putting fun above realism- if you want things to be pretty reliable, then don't install BARIS- parts are meant to fail, and should fail enough to be something you have to think about but not so much that it gets too frustrating and not fun to play.

Frankly, I leave my SAS (and sometimes RCS) on all the time too... Yup! BARIS was designed with the idea that some parts would have longer lifespans than others. MOLE parts last 30 days, for instance, Pathfinder parts last 150 days, and DSEV parts last a full year. Fuel tanks are rated for 100 kerbal days (600 hours), and should fail about 4 times per year as currently implemented.

Well if you wouldn't mind doing some MTFB tuning and posting your results... One thing to consider: the values in that MM_BARIS file assume no knowledge of the part, such as tech tree and such. If a part already has setup the breakable part modules and quality control module, then those default values won't be used. Ideally, MM_StockParts would be applied first, then MM_BARIS (probably renamed Z_MM_BARIS so that it appears last in the file list). That way, you could specify MTBF values based upon where a part falls in the tech tree- but there are a lot of parts out there, hence the default values.

Check out MM_BARIS, it sets up the MTBF values by type of part. I believe the RCS and SAS are set to 12 hours. You can play with those values and find something that works well for you- but they'll only apply to new vessel construction. If you leave SAS and RCS on when you focus on another vessel, then they'll be considered as potential candidates to break during the vessel reliability check. Fuel tanks are always considered as potential candidates to break due to micrometeorites and such.

Couple things didn't make it into this release, which was focused on fixing the broken part persistence issue and the test bench: - Astronauts going on vacation: the stock mechanisms for this don't sound like they work right under certain circumstances so I have to figure out how to pull them out of the rotation. You can safely comment out the astronaut on vacation card for now as a workaround. - Condition summary: right now this is centered on part quality, and doesn't show part degradation as well as I'd hoped. I'm thinking instead of basing it on your MTBF. So if you have a max MTBF of 600 hours and you've used up, say 225 hours, then your condition would be: 225/600 = 0.375, which translates to Fair condition. This change would also help you know when you need to start performing maintenance; if the condition drops below Poor to, say, Terrible, then you know that you'll need to perform maintenance to improve the part's quality rating. I guess that means I'd need another display string for showing quality.. - Parts failing all the time: parts start will a low quality rating, which is improved by the max integration bonus that the SPH/VAB facility offers (level 1: 20, level 2: 30, level 3: 40) as well as flight experience (default is 1 point bonus per 5 flights). That's just for the part. When you make a quality check, you also get facility bonuses (up to +10 for the highest upgraded VAB/SPH and up to +10 for upgraded Astronaut Complex, but only if you have astronauts aboard) and of course the astronaut bonus (up to +10). Additionally, post-launch, parts will start failing only when they run out of MTBF (or you roll a critical failure, which is now harder to do post-launch). So if parts are failing after launch, then they're running out of MTBF unless you get really unlucky with a critical failure. MTBF only runs out when you keep a part continually in operation, such as running a drill or an ISRU, or several hours of engine burns. So, with the reduced chances of a critical failure, I'd expect that, with proper astronaut experience, upgraded facilities, and a complete vessel integration, part's shouldn't fail as often. But keep in mind that even with a typical 600 hour MTBF of continuous operation, long trips to other planets should experience failures- and that's to be expected.

Most amusing launch failure I've heard to date!